St. Aengus lived around the 8th and 9th century. He heralds from Clonenagh, Co. Laois. He went to monastic school close to present day Mountrath, under the direction of St. Fintan.
He lived as a hermit, at Dysert-beagh by the banks of the river Nore. The word ‘’Dysert’’ comes from the original Irish ‘’An Díseart’’, meaning hermitage. At his small hermitage, he grew close to God, through an austere life & solitude. He became a spouse of God, hence he took on the Irish title, ‘’Céile Dé’’. In his prayer life, he experienced the presence of Holy angels. He moved and built a hermitage a little further away from his original one in Clonenagh, and settled in a more isolated placed near Maryborough called Dysert-Enos, which takes its earlier Irish form for Hermitage of Aengus.
He loved the solitude, and the austere life, feeling the benefits of being a spouse of God. But he also gained a big following. This raised a great challenge to his life of solitude, as he was constantly interrupted by a stream of visitors. He therefore abandoned his new hermitage and went to live discreetly as a lay brother in a monastery in Tallaght, south Dublin. St. Maelruain was the abbot, and he was unaware that Aengus was in his midst, as Aengus did not reveal his true identity.
But Aengus was found out with time, as his qualities were so good, that it became evident that the stranger was someone of note. This came about one day, when Aengus went to assist of a young monk student during a particularly challenging lesson. Upon the discovery of the very gifted ‘’lay brother’’, Maelruain collaborated with him to produce the “Martyrology of Tallaght”, which gives an account of the Irish saints. This work was done around the year 790 and is the eldest of the Irish martyrologies. St. Aengus went on to produce his notable ‘’Feliré’’, which poetically celebrates the saints of Ireland, and was inserted into the ‘’Leabhar Breac’’. The ‘’Feliré’” is one of the primary sources of information on the early Irish saints.
Aengus and Maelruain are considered the founders of the Céilí Dé movement, which was a reform movement seeking a purer and more austere monastic life. After St. Maelruain passed away, Aengus returned to Clonenagh and remained at Dysert-beagh where he passed away on Friday, 11 March, 824.
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